Danah Boyd talked about always-on lifestyle. Unlike previous decades when we actually needed to go online by listening to the screeching sound of modem, our current technologies practically eliminated the concept of on and off-line. Consequently, we need to balance our daily lives to efficiently use our very scarce resource, time. While vast streams of information updates can be overwhelming, some consciously switch-off their “cyborg” state despite our curious nature and urges of being social critters. On the other hand, some actually find the optimal balance of affordance given constant access toward information. Besides, Danah Boyd brought up an intriguing perspective of privacy and information control. Since we are constantly sharing our information, people will less likely ask you about what you decided not to share. In some sense, technologies and social media channels enables us to control our information in more favorable ways.

Gilpin elaborated the use of Twitter as an additional communication channel. The conventional definition of reputation is associated with its dynamics, co-constructed nature consisted of direct, and symbolic experiences from interactions with individuals and (or) organizations. Identity is often formulated based on our contacts, contents of communications, and characteristics of residing networks. Given the trend of interaction-oriented communication exercised by practitioners and scholars and internet powered communication technologies, such use of Twitter to establish virtual identities, share contents, and formulate profiles become a more generally accepted communication method. And, come to think of it, we are doing pretty much same stuff to build our reputation and identity. The difference is that now we are using armies of technologies rather than only faxing our resumes.

While our digital selves are converged with our none-digital selves via social media technologies, Mendelson and Papacharissi talked about digital photos as self-presentation and functions of digital biography in social media sphere. As the article elaborated, the meaning of photograph surely changed. During the Kodak film era, people surely looked directly at camera lenses. Except few gifted ones, we all looked awkward. Digital photos, especially powered by cell phone and social media, surely changed the dynamics of photo taking. It used to be a portrayal of static moment, but now it is a glimpse of continuous daily lives.

Hence, it is becoming increasingly important what types of digital footprints are left behind. It may sound moronic that someone boldly claim he or she can determine others characteristics by reviewing their digital traffics, such as comments, blog postings, tweet feeds, or Facebook pictures. Nevertheless, social media channel communication cannot fully convey one’s self-presentation. We must note that it will increasingly have a larger role. We cannot entirely disregard the idea that we may be judged by the digital covers of ourselves because digital portrayal of our daily lives can be shared and viewed by others in amplified degrees.